Leaders in the Air Force criticized a House of Representatives plan for a separate military organization for space operations, according to the Washington Examiner.
The plan to set up the U.S. Space Corps, a separate service within the Air Force, and a unified space command under U.S. Strategic Command would create unnecessary bureaucracy, according to Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson.
"The Pentagon is complicated enough. We're trying to simplify. This will make it more complex, add more boxes to the organization chart and cost more money. If I had more money, I would put it into lethality, not bureaucracy," Wilson said during a Senate visit, according to the Examiner.
The potential is growing for threats to the U.S. in space from countries such as China. Gen. David Goldfein, Air Force chief of staff, said the Air Force was changing to a war-fighting perspective regarding space.
Goldfein also critiqued the plan for a separate agency. "As we're making this transition, to get us anchored into a discussion about the organizational chart while we're right now trying to move towards improving lethality and war fighting going forward, quite frankly, would slow us down," he said.
The House's bill would set up the U.S. Space Corps, a separate service within the Air Force, and a unified space command under U.S. Strategic Command.
Some congressmen defended the plan, saying that space operations are facing a "crippling organizational and management structure," according to Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn.
Gen. John Hyten, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, said the U.S. military needs to accept some instances of failure, according to a Tuesday report in Space News.
"We've lost the ability to go fast, test, and fail … we have got to get back to where we accept risk," Hyten said, according to Space News.